All entries for Tuesday 01 December 2009

Stage:16 => Measurement Variation…

Hello everyone;

Third and the last stage of "Investigate sources of variation and waste" is "Measurement Variation".

We created lots of diagrams and charts using data that we have collected but are we really sure about our data show facts. We have to bear in mind that process of taking measurements can itself effect variation. Using different people, using different methods, using different materials under different conditions while measuring would cause variation because of measurement process.

Total variation is made up of measurement variation in addition to true process variation. Therefore we have to monitor and consider improving the measurement process itself continuously. If we observe high variability, we need to improve the measurement process first before studying the actual process.

In my opinion; the most important thing about process improvement is measurement process. Because; we have to investigate and observe facts to see if we could change the outcomes. If we cant measure the facts as they should be then how can we think about improving our process.

I think I may have an example to this. Is victory in games a measure for a sports club's success or not? They are just results so we shouldn't measure a club's success with places that they had in all leagues in all categories. There are many things which we would discuss and examine before going into a decision about their success. Overall perfermance is not enough for decision. It has a good percentage on decision making generally. However; I think it has NOT. The executive board has many different opinions when choosing a new manager for the club. And they generally fall into this mistake of measurement differences I suppose. Some believe victory is important and measure overall performance, some ( less than others ) believe success starts from hearts and measure love and belief for the club.

I hope I could be able to explain it as I really mean to.

Cheers.

Ref: http://www.pmi.co.uk

: 01 Dec 2009 12:00 |  Tags: Piuss Pmi |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem